wetmore



UNITED sTArEs PATENTO ix N J- w. wETMoRE; or ERIE, Pnruvstrive.Niel.`

` RAILROAD-CHAIR;

Specification of Letters Patent No. 26,634, dated December 27, `1859` To aZZ 'whom 'it may concern: l j

Be it known that I, J. W. WETMORE, of Erie, in the county of Erie, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Railroad-Chair, which I name the Band railroad-chair; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and eX- act description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and `to the letters of reference marked thereon.

The nature of my invention is as follows: I propose to prevent the irregularities in the vertical and lateral variations of the adjacent ends of the rails by means of an iron adjustable yoke forming the bearing surface and sides of the joint and a plate and wedge key under the ends to complete the band surrounding the joint.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use rny invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A and B are adjacent ends of rails, notched at g, h, u, &c., about of an inch deep and an inch and a half (or more) from the end of each rail.

C is made of a bar of iron 3 inches wide and thick, bent on a former to fit the rails thus notched. The web lnust be notched deep enough toward the-.center for the band C to pass sufficiently near to a perpendicular to clear the flanges of the wheels. Z, m, the ends of this bar, run from the web down through F, perpendicularly; F, an iron plate about 8 inches square and thick punched for the bar or band and also for` fan spike; E, wedge key passing through Z and m directly under plate F. This key is driven up until C is firm onthe surface g, &c., and then a small spike is driven in the tie at r the head of the wedge, to preventthe wedge from working back. The tie is grooved for the wedge and Inortised to receive the ends Z, m. Holes are bored through the tie from the bottoms of the mortises to drain off the water. The heads of thespike turn only outward so that the rails can be removed without drawing them or moving the plate F. C is taken off simply by removing the key E.

u 1s a notch in the end of the facilitate its removal. 1

wedge to To prevent the surfaces ofthe rails o v j and 0 (the joints) from being nicked jor:

broken by the irregularities of the motion when A, B, and C are pressedclose together,

backward or the edges ofthe band are bev` eled. l i

This Chain might* be Pldbetweeflthe f l l16`0 ties by havinga plank or 1l feet long,under the joint resting on two ties` and the ends plank.

lank. Asmalllplate like f Fiwould beset ties. These two ties would be aboutA inches ing its end sidewise. If greaterecononiy is desired, every other chair maybe similarto` l that for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 19th of Feby., 1859. The tie would be grooved out Linches deep for this .j

chair. A fiat key could be drivenunder the i This forni` of rails to tighten this joint. chair may be weldedo-n the under side, l

When now the weight ison `A,.at` a, it

presses down on theplatej F `and through the se i wedge draws C down onto lthe notch of B. C hen the edge of the tie S isdepressed` and throws up edge t, this will. only rock 0 (the f i j i edge of C) close down into the corner of the notch at a. The wheel will then pass by an even surface onto .o. When the wheel is on C, of course the` wei ht will carry surface p down even withl sur ace of andthe wheel i .i

will pass off of the chair aswell as onto it in the same plane. This chair thus grasps the main. central body of the ends of therails f and holds them together,` preventing "either` from rising above the other and when one l is pressed downward or horizontally `by any amount lof weight, carryingthe other end with it. The joint is covered and; bridged and the partial breaks in the. surface thatare i substituted, do not operate` to prod11`ce"`anl` uneven surface.` The jointiisas `firm as a:

continuous rail, except the wave depression is greater than at an intermediate tie. The

5.5` the cutting of the `headof the soil slopesf` spaces between n 0 ando p, for expansion, are only half of that at the single joint.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by `Letters Patent, is-

The use of the yoke band (as C passing through notches in the heads, and Webs, of the T or H rail, at the joint, and keyed by a Wedge under the plate F, all combined, constructed and arranged substantially as described.

J. W. WETMORE. Witnesses:

ALLEN A.' CRAIG, F. F. MARSHALL. 

